Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Anchor Christmas Ale 1995

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It’s day twenty-one of my triumphant trot to Christmas featuring all 42 labels from Anchor’s Christmas Ale — a.k.a. Our Special Ale — all different beers (well, mostly different) and all different labels, each one designed by local artist Jim Stitt, up to and including this year’s label. Also, this marks halfway in our journey.

1995 was the twenty-first year that Anchor made their Christmas Ale, and this year marked the ninth year that Anchor’s Our Special Ale included spices. Like the previous eight year’s, a spiced brown ale was created for the year’s Christmas Ale. This twenty-first label was a “Coconut Palm” or “Cocos nucifera.”

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Patent No. 197744A: Improvement In Hop-Vine Stripper And Separator

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Today in 1877, US Patent 197744 A was issued, an invention of Moses C. Smith, for his “Improvement in Hop-Vine Stripper and Separator.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention is in the nature of an improvement in machinery for picking or stripping hops from their vines for separating the hops from the vine-leaves; for separating or breaking up bunches or clusters, and for delivering the hops into bags ready for the kiln, the said machinery being portable, and designed for use in the field.

The invention consists in rolls of soft yielding material for feeding the vines to the stripping mechanism; of moving stripping-teeth disengaging the hops from the vines as they are fed forward, and carrying said vines forward; of a table beneath said moving teeth for receiving the vines from the feed-rolls, and made yielding, so as to avoid choking by accumulation of the vines; of a toothed revolving apron, operating in connection with a toothed bar, for delivering said hops into a chute, from which they are discharged into bags in condition for the drying-kiln, these several elements being combined as hereinafter claimed.

The invention further consists, in connection with the above-described or equivalent mechanism, in a fan located in the forward end of the machine; a fan-hood, the throat of which is guarded by a number of tongues depending from the yielding table before described, to prevent the escape of hops and leaves into the fan-casing; a perforated apron moving over rollers, and. a shaker or sieve placed beneath the said apron, and over the and the perforated apron, over which the vines pass, and between which the hops fall onto the toothed apron.

The invention also consists in arms or rests secured to the frame of the machine, and projecting laterally therefrom at either side of the feed-opening, for the purpose of permitting the stacking of the hop-poles, with the vines thereon, in convenient reach of those feeding the machine.

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Beer In Ads #2114: British Birds

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Saturday’s ad is for Worthington White Shield, from 1977, although this is a reprint and I’m not sure when the original is from. In this ad, a very British bird, wearing a Union Jack vest, is perched on the edge of his nest, looking over four Worthington White Shield eggs. I always thought a “bird” in England was slang for a young woman, but maybe there’s another meaning?

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Patent No. 1046298A: Beer Cooler

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Today in 1912, US Patent 1046298 A was issued, an invention of John W. Hurley, for his “Beer Cooler.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates to beer coolers.

The ordinary beer cooler coil which is usually made of block tin is subject to numerous objections, among which may be mentioned its short life, difficulty in cleaning, tendency to accumulate impurities which contaminate the beer passing there-through, difficulty in detaching and removing it from its place in the cooler box, and its pitting and disintegration by the ammonia in the ice water. Among its other defects is its relatively great expense and necessity for comparatively frequent renewal, aside from being insanitary.

My invention has for its object the provision of a beer cooler of simple, strong and durable construction which may be inexpensively manufactured and installed, either originally when the beer dispensing apparatus is put in, or subsequently to supplant a coil cooler. A further object is to provide an improved beer cooler which can be readily taken apart and quickly washed and cleaned, will not be liable to injury, as is the case with cooler coils, will not be subject to disintegration by the action of ammonia, will at all times afford a free and easy circulation for the beer and the ready disposal of the ice about the beer cooler and the flow or circulation of the ice water therethrough.

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Anchor Christmas Ale 1994

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xmas-christmas-ale
It’s day twenty of my tear to Christmas featuring all 42 labels from Anchor’s Christmas Ale — a.k.a. Our Special Ale — all different beers (well, mostly different) and all different labels, each one designed by local artist Jim Stitt, up to and including this year’s label.

1994 was the twentieth year that Anchor made their Christmas Ale, and this year marked the eighth year that Anchor’s Our Special Ale included spices. Like the previous seven year’s, a spiced brown ale was created for the year’s Christmas Ale. This twentieth label was “[i]nspired by the Original Christmas Ale Tree” from the first label.

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Patent No. 416157A: Apparatus For Drying Hops

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Today in 1889, US Patent 416157 A was issued, an invention of Samuel Cleland Davidson, for his “Apparatus For Drying Tea, Hops, SLiced Fruit, &c.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

The object of this invention is the construction of an apparatus in which a very strong current of heated air or cool desiccated air can be used for rapidly drying tea, coffee, cocoa, cinchona, hops, sliced fruits, seeds, meal, or other such substances, on sieves or perforated trays arranged in a drying-chamber one above the other on a vertical column, and movable in successive order of rotation from bottom to top of the column without the martial being whirled by the strength of the current into heaps on the trays while in the drying-chamber, or blown away off them by it when the trays are being put into or taken out of the apparatus.

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Anchor Christmas Ale 1993

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xmas-christmas-ale
It’s day nineteen of my run to Christmas featuring all 42 labels from Anchor’s Christmas Ale — a.k.a. Our Special Ale — all different beers (well, mostly different) and all different labels, each one designed by local artist Jim Stitt, up to and including this year’s label.

1993 was the nineteenth year that Anchor made their Christmas Ale, and this year marked the seventh year that Anchor’s Our Special Ale included spices. Like the previous six year’s, a spiced brown ale was created for the year’s Christmas Ale. This nineteenth label was a “Paradise Apple,” or “Malus pumila.”

Anchor-Xmas-1993

Patent No. 3923897A: Production Of Hoplike Beverage Bittering Materials

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Today in 1975, US Patent 3923897 A was issued, an invention of Leonard R. Worden, assigned to the Kalamazoo Spice Extract Co., for his “Production of Hoplike Beverage Bittering Materials.” If the Kalamazoo Spice Extract Co. sounds familiar, that’s where Firestone Walker brewmaster Matt Brynildson worked as in intern in college and then as his first job afterwards, as a hop chemist. Here’s the Abstract:

Production of hoplike beverage bittering materials by the peracid oxidation of 3′,5′-dialkyl-2′,4′,6′-trihydroxyacylphenones to 6-acyl-2,4-dialkyl-2-hydroxycyclohexane-1,3,5-triones (tetrahydrohumulones or tetrahydro-alpha acids) and isomerization thereof to 2,4-diacyl-5-alkyl-4-hydroxycyclopentane-1,3-diones (tetrahydroisohumulones or tetrahydroiso-alpha acids).

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Beer In Ads #2112: This Calls For … Spaghetti Night

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Thursday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1962. In this ad, part of series entitled “This calls for …,” in this case “Spaghetti Night.” I thought I found all of the “This Calls For” ads, but today accidentally found another one I hadn’t seen before. In this one, a couple looks waaay too happy about spaghetti. The only rational explanation is that this is not their first beer, but they’ve had quite a few before sitting down to eat.

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